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Problems with REACH  photo: john-morgan REACH is overseen by the newly formed ECHA, a 400 strong team of EU policy and chemicals experts based in Helsinki, Finland. The management board is made up of 27 representatives, one from each EU member state, plus six people from the European Commission and two independents. When the consultation phase of REACH was underway in 2003, the European Commission received more than 6,000 contributions from industry associations, governments, NGOs and the public, causing one of the fiercest lobbying battles in EU history. The result has been a severe watering down of the legislation which has created loopholes and concessions to industry. At an estimated cost of €3-5 billion to industry over 11 years to adopt the requirements of the legislation, the motivations behind their lobbying are clear. However, NGOs are keen to point out that savings in health costs from removal of these substances from EU markets could amount to €54 billion over the next 30 years. A coalition of NGOs, including ClientEarth, HEAL, WWF, the EEB and Greenpeace are calling for reforms in REACH to try to address some of the concessions to industry which have weakened this landmark legislation. They are pushing for five major reforms: 2) Include substances such as BPA (endocrine disruptors) in the list of SVHCs (BPA is used in some baby bottles and food contact material) 3) Increase the access to information on chemicals contained in consumer products, so to trigger their substitution with safer products 4) Ensure the “precautionary principle” is applied to nanomaterials 5) Decrease the lobbying pressure from industry who have hundreds of lawyers and scientists supporting them Learn more about how we are working for these reforms in the remaining sections of this site. |
